50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2026, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read as this makes it much easier to keep track of books or authors that may appeal (or not appeal) to everyone else.

Some of us bring over our updated lists to the new thread. Again, this is up to you.

The first thread of the year is here the second thread here, the third thread here, the fourth thread here, the fifth thread here and the sixth thread here

Aw I've got this on reserve at the library. Life After Life was so great, not read anything else by her that's as good tbh

I have read all the Jackson Brodie books - my big problem is that I can't envision what he looks like! Or the female detective. I have never had this problem with other crime writers. So anyway, it drives me crazy when I am reading these books.

@BestIsWest I'm 53 on the library list for Our Noble Selves so it will be a while before my review! Will get to Transcription a lot sooner.

I gave up on Kate A years ago. I used to like Jackson B, but I thought they got increasingly silly.

I felt the same. I really enjoyed the first couple, but just got frustrated as they seemed to get less and less realistic and rely on ever more unlikely situations/coincidences.

KA is nowhere near as entertaining as she used to be, as an author. The last one of hers I thought was above average was A God in Ruins. She's on a trajectory of diminishing returns and just not talented enough to produce great work consistently at the pace she writes and completes books (six in eight years).

On Kate Atkinson, I loved Life After Life and A God in Ruins. I did also enjoy Transcription, but I can barely remember a thing about Shrines of Gaiety. I agree with @Owlbookend that the Jackson Brodies started brilliantly but went right off after the first three. My BorrowBox has just added them on audio so I might revisit them.

43.The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Sybil Van Antwerp is 73, and has a lifelong love of letter-writing, more recently updated to include email-sending. Her correspondents include her best friend, her brother, a troubled teenage family friend, her favourite authors, and various professionals and customer service representatives she encounters in her daily life. Through her letters Sybil initially appears to be prickly and lonely, but further letters show a more complex and nuanced picture as her warmth and generosity is revealed, alongside personal tragedies and regrets.

I think this has mixed reviews on these threads, but I really liked how many different facets of Sybil’s character and relationships Evans managed to show. Sybil’s fear of the inevitable loss of her eyesight and thereby her connection to the world was really moving, and her vulnerability helped her to move from being closed-off and aloof, responding slowly to the love and support of those around her. I warmed to her enough that I didn’t even mind the cheesy Hallmark ending.

And now I think I need to read Lonesome Dove.

If anyone is London-adjacent, Faber is having a Partita day for members (membership is free, apart from the increase in your TBR pile )

Join us in the Bindery on 6 October to celebrate the work of Barbara Kingsolver, on the publication day of her new novel, Partita.

Faber Cart Bookshop and Piano Recital, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
To celebrate the book's publication and in honour of Livia, our beloved pianist in Partita we are teaming up with music schools across the country, including Guildhall School of Music in London, to work with student pianists to accompany shoppers on publication day.

The pianist will be in the Bindery reception from 11.30 to 2.30pm playing a repertoire inspired by the Listening List Kingsolver has compiled for readers to follow along throughout the novel.

There will be a bookshop selling works by Barbara Kingsolver and Faber books that have inspired her.

Evening Event
Celebrating Barbara Kingsolver: Book Club, 7 p.m., £5
Join us in the evening for a book club celebrating the works of Barbara Kingsolver, with particular focus on two of her most beloved books: Demon Copperhead and The Poisonwood Bible. Join Barbara Kingsolver’s editor, Associate Publisher Louisa Joyner, and Fiction Editor of The Times and Sunday Times Laura Hackett to explore some of the themes that have intoxicated readers across the world.

Buy surely he looks like Jason Isaacs as per the TV series?!?!

Definitely diminishing returns

82. Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman

This is basically a reworking of The Scarlet Pimpernel with added aristocratic vampires and a bit of magic.

It’s told from the point of view of English housemaid Eleanor, who becomes involved in the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel thanks to her striking resemblance to Marie Antoinette.

This was a good fun read.

83. Your Child Is Not Broken by Heidi Mavir

A bit of a mixture of a memoir of parenting a neurodivergent teenager, plus some information and tips about neurodivergence. Very readable.

84. Firespell by Chloe Neill

YA. Lily is sent to a boarding school, and soon stumbles across an underground society of magic users, complete with a good vs evil struggle between different factions.
And of course, Lily discovers that she’s also got powerful magic.
It wasn’t particularly engaging though. All a bit meh.

85. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Identical twins Cath and Wren are starting college, and they’ll be living apart for the first time ever.
This book follows Cath through the first tumultuous year at college, where she’s struggling to figure out how to adapt to all the changes and new challenges, build new relationships and romances, and cope with various family dramas in the background. She’s also very into writing fanfiction about “Simon Snow” (a very thinly veiled Harry Potter ripoff ), hence the title.

It’s quite sweet, and I really warmed to Cath.

I didn't even know there was a TV series! Just had a look - not bad, I guess. I kind of saw him like Hunter Davies, but I could never get it to stick.

Anyway, I just realised that I "see" what I read, like if a car is heading up the motorway, I see a car on a motorway in my head.

And usually it all works fine, but then I get chatacters I just can't picture. And Jackdon Brodie is one of them.

@MaterMoribund have added the Lissa Evans to my list of books to read to my son. He is nearly 15 now but we still enjoy a bedtime read together. We've had a lot of Pratchett so this sounds like a nice change of direction. And I would read the Phone Book written by Lissa Evans too so there's that!

@Arran2024 interesting do you mind my asking if you have dyslexia? I did a research thing on dyslexia many years ago and that was a known feature

No, I don't. But I do have some synesthesia - so some words are blue, other are yellow, that sort of thing.

I have just polished off LyseDoucet's (sic) wonderful book , The Finest Hotel in Kabul. What I liked was how much I learnt and began to appreciate about Afghanistan and its resilient people. But also I really admire Doucet's compassion and objectivity. She never judges. Unlike so many writers , this book is never about her. She is occasionally in it but very rarely in the first person and never as a major player. This book isn't about her and that is so remarkable, since she is so admirably extraordinary.
She takes instead the stories of ordinary Afghans and renders them extraordinary. If you have not yet read this, do.

@SpunkyKhakiScroller Oh, he’ll love it, I bet!
Jackson Brodie was never Jason Isaacs in my head, but <rubs thighs> very watchable in the TV series. Book Jackson is more disheveled and with softer features to me.
I won’t buy any Kate Atkinson at full price since Shrines Of Gaiety. I felt actively ripped off by her with that book, so any improvement on it is a bonus at 99p - half price paperback..

@Arran2024I also have some synaesthesia ! I’ve been known to see music as colours!

Joining the Kate Atkinson chat, I loved the first Jackson Brodie, as well as Life After Life and A God In Ruins but not read anything else by her (although I have a few TBR). However I did soft DNF Behind the Scenes at the Museum as I found it incredibly tedious but might revisit in case I just wasn’t in the right mood.

Interested in the chat about picturing things when reading as I have aphantasia, where I struggle to picture things in my mind’s eye. It means that beautiful descriptions and writing sometimes don’t do much for me, in and of themselves, as I just can’t picture what is being described.

77 Tell Me How This Ends by Jo Leevers

A mix of two genres that I like - crime, and lonely, likely autistic woman finds her place and people - and part of the book is spent in the 1970s, which I always have a soft spot for. Henrietta gets a job recording the life stories of those who are terminally ill and meets Annie, who wants to tell her story, and that of her sister Kath, who disappeared in 1974. I enjoyed this book, the crime kept me guessing and it wasn’t too grim, or too cosy, and it was sweet without being mawkish. The ending was maybe a tiny bit neat but I can forgive that. Free on kindle unlimited too.

I am a heretic who didn’t finish Life After Life…

However, I’m not marking it a DNF as so many people with similar tastes love it and the variant history genre is one I like.

So I conclude it was bad timing and I will try again another day.

61 Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier I thought I hadn’t read this before, but it turns out I must have done (probably at uni) as I remembered everything just before it happened. It obviously hadn’t made much of an impression on me the first time round! Reading it now, I was struck by the (presumably deliberate) parallels with Jane Eyre, and also the ambiguous nature of the main characters and who we are supposed to side with. Most of all though, the narrator’s overactive imagination (for better and worse) and the beautiful descriptions of Manderley really made the setting come alive. I’m not sure I loved it, but it probably gets a bold because I’m still thinking about it a while after finishing it. Time to listen to Dominic and Tabby talking about it now!

Class Trip Emmanuel Carrere
An unsettling novella about a young boy who goes on a school ski trip where he discovers something truly horrifying. I guessed where it was going qiite early and there is an unfolding sense of dread. It is very sad. Thanks to whomever reviewed it upthtead - i wouldnt have come across it otherwise. I tried to google to see who it waa but could only find a review from a 50 booker thread in .... 2018.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage - I have started rereading Rebecca as part of RWYO as I have an unread Kindle copy. I think I last read this in the 1980s but think I vaguely recall the plot - let's see. I have been a bit distracted recently (shitshow at work and family crisis) so my reading has fallen by the wayside and I need to pick it up again.

Just about keeping up with Les Mis readalong.

Think I forgot to add:

57. The Rest of our Lives - Benjamin Markovits

Finished this a couple of weeks ago (and have forgotten some of the details). Middle-aged, middle class American man drops his daughter at university but doesn't go home and drives across US instead. Already reviewed by many on here. I couldn't quite reconcile his quandary that his marriage was in difficulties (following his wife's adultery) with their obvious closeness - long telephone conversations in bed whilst on his journey (and his wife's acceptance of his unexpected journey). But then I guess life is contradictory. Enjoyed.

Really interesting to hear whether people visualise what they read. I certainly do - I feel as though I'm 'watching' the action of the book in my head, like a film. I don’t believe I've ever really thought about this; it just happens. I used to have slight synesthesia as a child, too - I'd see different days as colours etc., but that seems to have worn off as I got older.

Real life has been a bit tough these last few weeks so three decidedly lightweight reads from me, briefly reviewed..

56 American Fantasy, Emma Straub

A sad, menopausal woman goes on a celebrity cruise with the boy-band that she and her sister idolised as teens, plus hundreds of their die-hard super fans. POV switches between her and one of the band members, who is himself struggling with loneliness, ageing and behind-the-scenes band dynamics.

I've been talking a lot with friends recently about the mid-life urge to go back to the things that brought joy when you were younger. This was a lightweight read on most levels, but really tapped into that nostalgia and sadness for lost youth.

57 Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann (RWYO)

Shows that a book can be two things simultaneously. Trashy yet feminist. Clumsily written yet full of killer lines.

Tells the story of three young women in the entertainment business, opening in 1940s New York and spanning the following decades. We see how they are used and manipulated by men, judged constantly on their looks and bodies, denied any real power while being treated as stars.

I enjoyed this although it's not a nice book, and it left an unpleasant aftertaste.

I agree with a review that I read somewhere that said that if this had been a book by a man, dealing with ambition, drug addiction and the ruthless (and hugely misogynistic) power politics of the entertainment industry, it would have had a very different reception, and be spoken about much more seriously, rather than as a prototype bonkbuster.

Edited to add: I picked this up as it was mentioned in a review of Rachel Cusk's Life of M, whose main character is supposedly based on Natalie Portman. Many of the VOTD characters are supposed to be closely inspired by real people including Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe.

58 Death by the Sea, Hannah Ellis

Freebie Kindle read, cosy murder mystery. Had what I think of as the worst features of the genre - meddling amateur sleuths sticking their noses into the police investigation, and police officers who are very ready to blab to all and sundry about what they've found and who they suspect. This also had a very forced found family vibe which (for me) failed to establish any chemistry between the "gang" - they were all just annoying. It was nice to daydream about a seafront cottage on the Scottish coast though.